Outcome of supportive talks in a hospital setting: Insights from cancer patients and their relatives

Background: In psychosocial cancer rehabilitation, relatives are often central to patients' experiences and management of their cancer disease, and they need to be actively involved in rehabilitation. To address this need we developed a psychosocial rehabilitation intervention. As part of the intervention, lung or gynecological cancer patients and a relative as a pair were offered three supportive talks initiated on the date of admission and completed within 2 months. Objective: The objective of this study was to qualitatively assess the outcome of supportive talks from the pairs' perspectives and to provide a nuanced understanding of psychosocial support offered to pairs in a hospital setting in Denmark. Methods: Using a qualitative approach, we conducted semi-structured interviews with pairs receiving supportive talks and pairs receiving usual care. The interviews focused on the pairs' experiences of psychosocial supportive talks in a hospital setting. A constant comparative analysis was applied to identify themes related to the ways the pairs experienced the talks. Results: The analysis revealed two main themes: 'appreciation of the supportive talks' and 'the influence of the hospital setting'. The majority of pairs valued the focus on relationship and interpersonal communication, although they appreciated various aspects of the talks. The hospital setting provided valuable resources (trained nurses and medical expertise), but existing clinical routines challenged the implementation of the supportive talks. Conclusions: The supportive talks were appreciated as psychosocial support in line with the objective, or as information on cancer treatment and routine care. The implementation of a new rehabilitation practice was challenged by the influence of the hospital setting.